But we have a graphical method of testing the equilibrium of any set of forces acting at a point. We draw in series a set of lines parallel and proportional to these forces. If these lines form a closed polygon the forces are in equilibrium. (See MECHANICS.) We might in this way form a series of polygons of forces, one for each joint of the frame. But in so doing we give up the principle of drawing the line representing a force from the point of application of the force, for all the sides of the polygon cannot pass through the same point, as the forces do. We also represent every stress twice over, for it appears as a side of both the polygons corresponding to the two joints between which it acts. But if we can arrange the polygons in such a way that the sides of any two polygons which represent the same stress coincide with each other, we may form a diagram in which every stress is represented in direction and magnitude, though not in position, by a single line which is the common boundary of the two polygons which represent the joints at the extremities of the corresponding piece of the frame.
We have thus obtained a pure diagram of stress in which no attempt is made to represent the configuration of the material system, and in which every force is not only represented in direction and magnitude by a straight line, but the equilibrium of the forces at any joint is manifest by inspection, for we have only to examine whether the corresponding polygon is closed or not.
The relations between the diagram of the frame and the diagram of stress are as follows:--To every link in the frame corresponds a straight line in the diagram of stress which represents in magnitude and direction the stress acting in that link; and to every joint of the frame corresponds a closed polygon in the diagram, and the forces acting at that joint are represented by the sides of the polygon taken in a certain cyclical order, the cyclical order of the sides of the two adjacent polygons being such that their common side is traced in opposite directions in going round the two polygons.
The direction in which any side of a polygon is traced is the direction of the force acting on that joint of the frame which corresponds to the polygon, and due to that link of the frame which corresponds to the side. This determines whether the stress of the link is a pressure or a tension. If we know whether the stress of any one link is a pressure or a tension, this determines the cyclical order of the sides of the two polygons corresponding to the ends of the links, and therefore the cyclical order of all the polygons, and the nature of the stress in every link of the frame.